Issue #4 of the Newsletter of the Tokologo African Anarchist Collective

Editorial: Election Circus - Zuma not the problem, the whole system is rotten

Issue #4 of Tokologo, the Newsletter of the Tokologo African Anarchist Collective, has been released and is available online in PDF.

EDITORIAL:

Election Circus: Zuma not the problem, the whole system is rotten

2014’s national and provincial election circus saw the ANC retain its big majority. Two opposition parties – DA and EFF – grew; the rest fell sharply. Over 13 million never voted, more than the total who voted for the ANC and far more that voted EFF (1 million) or DA (4 million). Four out of ten youth (18-29 year olds) did not even register.[1]

As usual, promises were made – and broken. The ANC has spent 2014 covering up the Nkandla scandal and the Marikana massacre. It is a party of the black political elite, which is busy looting the state and ruining state companies, like ESKOM, the Post Office and SABC. This elite is allied to the white capitalist elite, which is busy ruining the country through price-fixing, factory closures, tax evasions and retrenchments. Also, ANC meddling in COSATU is causing havoc in these big working class regiments.

But any other party would do likewise. You cannot dismantle the system of oppression using its own tools: the state and the corporations. These are built on the blood of the working class; they cannot be used by us. They enrich and empower the ruling class, while keeping the people down with lies, bullets and every effort to corrupt and control unions and social movements.

The EFF seemed to bring light, despite being set up by corrupt former ANC leaders; it spoke to the hopes of the suffering. But in office, the EFF leadership immediately broke its “Sankara Oath”: to use state services only. Let us say it again: the system corrupts.

Like all Members of Parliament (MPs), EFF leaders earn one million rand yearly, free housing, free air tickets, etc. In just THREE DAYS, an MP earns over R12 500 – mineworkers fought for 90 bitter days, without pay, to earn this PER MONTH. Per month, MPs earn more than most miners get yearly. No wonder EFF leaders can keep their kids in private schools.

To remain relevant, EFF leaders have staged shows in parliament for media attention. These do not solve anything – and the top-down EFF structure, with its “command team” and personality cult around the leader, is far from the workers’ control and self-management we want.

Pay back the money? Yes, we agree. ALL of the politician must “pay back the money” – no exceptions. Zuma must go? Yes, we agree – but we also say they must ALL GO.

The whole system – of parliament, of voting, of capitalism – is rotten. The state and elections are a graveyard of struggles, a dead-end for us – and a get-rich-quick scheme for the politicians. Working class power lives in our organisations – unions and grassroots social movements, organised democratically – and on the streets, in our communities, in our own meetings. Here is where we can build a new country, block by block, mine by mine.

DON’T VOTE! ORGANISE!
REPLACE PARLIAMENT WITH SOMETHING BETTER!

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